I just caught a news article that was seriously disappointing but unfortunately, not very shocking. Upon the campus of our beloved bastion of Christian love and enlightened education, George Fox U., an effigy of Barak Obama was found hanging from a tree with a sign attached reading "Act Six Reject". Act Six is a scholarship program whose goal is to increase minority attendance at northwest Christian colleges. The reason it's not that shocking is that I've been around the Evangelical movement long enough to recognize the deep and twisted connection to ultra right wing conservatism that has taken over the collective mind of Evangelical Christianity.
Folks like Pat Robertson, Jimmy Swaggart, Jerry Falwell and James Dobson have defined politics for Christians for a over 2 decades and one of their primary motivators has been fear. How many times did I wake up to Dobson's schrill cries over the alarm clock radio begging and cajoling me to call my senator before the "Homosexual Agenda" took over our schools and destroyed America's families? I don't know, I finally turned him off about the time of the Iraq war when the president Dobson was in bed with didn't seem that Christian to me anymore. I must admit I started to feel better about life when I wasn't waking up to the-sky-is-falling-propaganda machine that is Focus on the Family.
The other day I walked into a meeting with a men's leadership team from church and somebody had recognized Donald Miller giving the Benediction at the DNC and suddenly it was like I was in the interrogation room, the spotlight shining in my eyes, men in black firing questions- "What exactly is your connection to this Donald Miller? Are you a Democrat Mr. McElravy? Are you?" I was under the gun, I felt the pressure, I was starting to sweat and I just blurted out "I'm still registered as a Republican!" McCarthy was easier on defendants than these guys. But my statement seemed to keep the wolves at bay, for now. One of them muttered, "That Obama scares me." And suddenly I realized, that's what it was, fear. These guys were geniunely afraid. I said, "Obama's just a man. What's so scary about him?" Blank stare, awkward silence, subject changed. No discussion of policy, no banter about who seems to be the most Christlike of the two candidates, and no talk of what Christian faith brings to the politcal discussion. Just a group of church leaders afraid of a Democrat. Sad.
Fear is one of those things that has it's uses. If your in situation where your life is in danger fear kicks the brain into fight or flight mode. In this state fear sometimes gives us super-human strength to do what might normaly be impossible. The adrenaline rushes through the body and gives us the ability to lift cars of people in a wreck (or so I've heard). You know what I mean. But the thing is, it also blocks some of our ability to asses situations realisticly. We don't necasarily see things as they are. Emotions can get the best of us. I fear that fear has been used against us and the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Sorry, that was supposed to be funny, but maybe there's some truth to it.
So the question is, can we (Christians) get passed the fear mongering and engage in real political discussion? Not emotional I'm-right-your-wrong-and-that's-that yelling. Our world faces serious problems and the status quo seems to have marginalized the Christian voice into lockstep with a politcal party who uses guys like Dobson and crew to scare us into their agenda. I'm not suggesting Christians should belong to one party or the other or not. It's bigger than that. I think this book will take us into a deeper discussion of what impact Christians could have politcally and in a much more constructive way than currently is happenning.
Looking forward to the discussion.
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Check out the wikipedia site
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donations_for_victims_of_the_2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake
http://atheism.about.com/b/2008/08/23/leah-daughtry-atheists-arent-welcome-in-the-democratic-party.htm
another fun one
Wow, that was a lot of information on the Wikipedia article regarding the relief to the Tsunami-stricken areas. Thanks for being my fact checker. It was especially interesting to see the largest ever contribution from the Catholic church (albeit over a 5 year period) nevertheless, a personal best for them. And look at the contributions from all of those "evil" corporations; surely Bill Gates could have given more than 3 million!!
Interesting reading. Thanks Tom.
So . . . my father in-law may have seen the kids who did this. Yeah, apparently, he was getting off from work and stopped at Nap's IGA supermarket, in Newberg, on the way home when he saw some kids buying an Obama cutout. There were other cutouts to choose from, I am told (Palin, McCain and, not to be missed, Elvis -- no word on a Biden cutout, as if anyone cared), but these kids picked Obama. Anyway, he didn't think much more of it until "Obama was lynched," to use your post's words, on George Fox's campus.
Also, it should be mentioned, that though guilt by association -- linking "lynch mob's" actions to George Fox as though the institution has hate and ignorance as a part of the core curriculum -- can sometimes be an effective tactic for scoring points in a debate, George Fox University will continue to be a "bastion of Christian love and enlightened education." Despite what these few ignorant punks did, their few moments of hatred will not erase George Fox's 117-year history of being a light for Christ in the northwest, the nation, and around the world.
Longbottom,
I appreciate the defense of your alma mater that you faithfully put forth. I do not suppose that the Friends denomination is a racist organization nor that GFU uses hate and ignorance as part of their core curriculum. To be honest the Friends seem more about peace and reconcilliation than hate and fear. My reference to GFU was sarcastic and if this was something I was publishing for say a newspaper or magazine I probably would have used different language. That was kind of a tongue in cheeck jab for you and Guy. It's worth mentioning that the next morning the president of the university made a decent speech that effectively said, "This isn't what we are about and this isn't okay with us." I understand that 4 students have confessed and face at least suspension for 1 term.
The fact of the matter is, though, this happenned on Fox's campus. The question is "Why?". I'd be less surprised (but still disappointed) if it was Liberty U or Bob Jones but Fox?! I think this really undescores the disconnect between Christian teachings, Christian ethics...everything that Jesus stood for, and what is being fed to the Evangelical portion of The Church. I'm guessing the folks who did this were raised in Christian homes, come from Republican families, and are white. They probably attended church and youth group regularly. And being so immersed in Christian culture they somehow got the notion that it would be a good idea to hang a picture of a black man by his neck from a tree and then attach a message scoffing their schools attempt to elevate other brother's and sister's in Christ educational opportunities.
This is embarrassing. Not because Christians are somehow being unfairly portrayed in the media or Hollywood but becuase in everyday life this is what is happenning. "They will know that you are Christians by your love" has been replaced by "They will know you are Christians when you act like ultra-right wing nut jobs". I'm not okay with that.
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